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COL.  GEORGE  WASHINGTON  FLOWERS 
MEMORIAL  COLLECTION 


DUKE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
DURHAM,  N.  C. 


PRESENTED  BY 
W.  W.  FLOWERS 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2010  with  funding  from 
Duke  University  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/proceedingsonannOOconf 


CONGRESS  OF  THE  C0Nm5iiRATE  STATES.       "^ 


•AU^4.AAtw^w 


PROCEEDINGS 


ANNOUNCEMENT  OF  THE  DEATH 


HOI^/JOH]^  TYLEK, 


JANUARY  20th,   1862. 


PUBLISHED  BY  ORDER  OF  THE  CONGRESS, 

B7  J.  J.  HOOPER,  Secretary. 


RICHMOND: 

ENQUIRER     BOOK     AND      JOB     PRESS. 

TTLER,     WISE,     ALLKORB    AND     SMITH. 

18G2. 


.*^ik*v  ' 


••   •    •  ^ 


K  '  ^##^^  ^^^  '^ 


7^^  A^- 


RESOLUTION  OF  THE  CONGRESS. 
■3/7 /i>' 


Resolved,  Tliut  the  Secretary  of  the  Congress 
cause  2,500  copies  of  the  proceedings  of  Congress, 
upon  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  Hon.  JOHN" 
TYLER,  together  with  the  addresses  dehvered, 
and  the  funeral  discourse  of  the  Right  Reverend 
Bishop  Johns,  to  be  printed  in  pamphlet  form, 
for  the  use  of  the  House. 


Office  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Congress, 

January  25,  1862. 
I    hereby    certify    that    the    foregoing    Resolution  was 
adopted  by  the  Congress,  on  this  day,  to  wit :  The  twenty- 
fifth  day  of  January,  in   the   year    eighteen  hundred  and 
sixty-two. 

J.  J.  HOOrER, 
Secretary  of  the  Congress. 


209610 


'  « 


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^^.^^ij* 


PRAYER  BY  REV.  DR.  HOGE. 


Congress  met  at  12,  M.,  and  was  opened  with  the 
following  prayer  : 

With  lowly  reverence  of  spirit,  and  hearts  filled 
with  sadness  and  awe,  we  come  into  Thy  presence,  0 ! 
Lord,  most  high  and  holy  !  We  humble  ourselves 
under  Thy  mighty  hand.  Clouds  and  darkness  sur- 
round Thee,  but  righteousness  and  judgment  are  the 
habitations  of  Thy  throne.  How  unsearchable  are 
Thy  decrees,  and  Thy  ways  past  finding  out.  We 
cannot  fathom  the  depth  of  Thy  infinite  designs  or 
scan  the  wisdom  of  Thine  inscrutable  providences. 
Enable  us,  then,  to  feel  our  helplessness,  our  igno- 
rance, our  frailty.  Make  us  submissive  in  the  day  of 
Thy  power.  When  we  cannot  explain  the  reasons  of 
Thy  dispensations,  may  we  be  silent.  When  we  can- 
not comprehend,  may  we  adore. 

This  day,  0  Cod,  the  solemn  voice  of  Thy  provi- 
dence unites  with  the  voice  of  inspiration  to  admon- 
ish, us  of  the  transitory  nature  of  all  earthly  good. 
In  taking  from  us  one  high  in  office  and  honor,  long 
beloved  and  revered,  Thou  hast  sent  bereavement  not 
only  upon  a  household,  but  upon  our  whole  Common- 
wealth— upon  our  entire  Confederacy.  Once  more 
are  we  admonished  that  in  this  world  nothing  is  se- 
cure, nothing  permanent.  Here  we  walk  in  a  vain 
show,  disquieting  ourselves  in  vain  ;  and  amid  these 

209(,io 


shifting  scenes,  where  disappointment  follows  expec- 
tation, and  sorrow  swallows  up  our  joy,  Thou  alone 
remainest  undisturbed  and  unchanging — the  only 
enduring  treasure,  the  only  satisfying  portion  of  the 
soul.  0,  help  us,  at  this  very  hour,  to  look  away 
from  earth,  with  its  unsubstantial  and  dissolving  good, 
to  the  world  whose  joys  fade  not,  whose  treasures 
perish  not,  and  whose  blessed  inliabitants  freed  from 
sorrow  and  pain,  enjoy  a  repose  which  is  unbroken 
and  eternal. 

Almighty  God,  Father  of  Mercies,  in  Thee  all  the 
fountains  of  consolation  are  to  be  found.  This  day 
would  we  bear  in  the  arms  of  our  faith  and  Christian 
sympath}^  before  Thee  those  who  are  most  aflected, 
most  afllicted  by  this  event.  Be  pleased,  0  Lord,  to 
bind  up  tlie  hearts  which  bleed,  and  grant  that  those 
who  now  sorrow  under  tliis  heavy  stroke  of  Thy 
hand  may  find  in  Thee  ^leir  refuge  and  strength  ; 
their  very  present  help  and  consolation  in  this  the 
hour  of  tlieir  anguish. 

Almighty  God,  grant  that  all  within  these  walls 
may  derive  salutary  instruction  from  this  impressive 
providence.  May  we  feel  the  necessity  of  ever  living 
in  expectation  of  the  summons  which  will  call  us  into 
the  invisible  state.  May  we  not  be  so  mucli  con- 
cerned about  the  time  and  circumstances  of  our  death 
as  about  our  preparation  for  it ;  so  that  whether  the 
silver  chord  is  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  loosed,  or 
whether  our  change  shall  come  with  long  premoni- 
tion, it  may  find  us  prepared,  with  our  spirits  safe  in 
the  hands  of  their  lledeemei*,  and  ready  for  their 
entrance  into  a  world  of  eternal  blessedness  and 
glory,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen. 


REMARKS  OF  MR.  MACFARLAND, 

OF   VIRGINIA. 


Mr.  President  : — My  colleagues  have  been  pleased 
to  assign  to  me  the  sad  duty  of  proposing  resolutions, 
to  express  the  sense  of  Congress  of  the  great  be- 
reavement ic  is  summoned  unexpectedly  to  mourn 
and  lament.  I  wish  it  were  in  my  power  to  perform 
the  mournful  duty  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  the 
sensibilities  of  Congress  and  the  country.  Any  an- 
nouncement of  the  decease  of  the  Hon.  John  Tyler, 
is  imperfect  and  inadequate,  fails  of  giving  utterance 
to  the  nation's  lamentation,  if  it  do  not  present  him 
as  a  statesman  and  patriot,  in  whom  his  countrymen 
delighted  to  repose  their  confidence,  and  who  failed 
not  to  derive  fresh  incentives  to  honor  and  revere 
him,  from  the  faithfulness  and  ability  with  which  he 
administered  every  trust. 

John  Tyler  is  an  historical  name.  He  was  him- 
self permitted  to  hear  the  judgment  of  his  generation, 
and  I  might  say,  of  posterity,  upon  the  labors  and 
motives  of  his  life,  pronouncing  that  they  were  alike 
elevated  and  successful.  He  was  the  venerable  rep- 
resentative of  the  memories  of  a  past  age,  with  its 


8 

renounced  alliances  and  associations,  and  zealous  and 
efficient  in  the  reforms  and  progress,  which  have 
made  the  period  of  his  latter  days  forever  memorable. 
His  fame  is  indissoluhly  blended  with  the  history  of 
his  times,  and  sliall  survive  the  most  enduring  memo- 
rials of  personal  affection,  or  of  public  esteem.  Live, 
he  still  does,  and  will,  in  liis  example,  his  deeds,  the 
purity  of  his  public  and  private  life,  in  his  matured 
counsels  and  inflexible  devotion  to  Constitutional, 
Republican  Government.  However  profoundly  the 
blow  smote  upon  our  own  feelings,  "  where  else  could 
he  have  been  relieved  of  the  yoke  of  his  labors  so  well 
as  in  the  field  where ,he  bore  them  ?'' 

The  time  in  which  he  lived  was  characterized  by 
fierce  political  and  party  divisions  ;  and  Mr.  Tyler 
was  intrepid  in  avowing  his  opinions,  and  reso- 
lute in  defending  them.  His  career  as  Chief  Magis- 
trate of  the  United  States,  exposed  him  to  pauiful 
collisions,  and  demanded  of  him  the  exercise  of  the 
highest  fortitude  and  intrepidity.  He  met  his  trials 
then,  as  he  did  all  otiiers,  as  a  good  and  brave  man 
may,  ^vith  patience  and  confidence,  in  the  ultimate 
vindication  of  his  motives.  It  was  reserved  for  him, 
here  in  his  own  State,  and  in  her  august  Convention, 
to  receive  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  entire  body,  on 
being  proposed  as  a  delegate  to  this  Provisional  Con- 
gress— an  emphatic  and  deserved  tribute  to  the  fidel- 
ity of  his  eventful  life,  and  to  the  weight  of  his 
character. 

Mr,  Presideut,  it  is' not  alone  for  his  statesmanship, 
and  the  length  and  variety  of  his  public  services,  that 
Mr.  Tvi.Kii  will  be  gratefully  remembered,  and  that 
admiring  memories  will  fondly  revert   to,  and  recall 


him.  As  ill  his  successive  elevation  from  one  high 
trust  to  another,  until  he  had  compassed  the  entire 
round  of  political  preferment,  an  increase  of  reputa- 
tion, fame,  homage,  met  him  at  every  adavnce,  so  in 
private  life  it  was  his  privilege  to  secure  the  respect, 
confidence  and  esteem  of  all  who  approached  liim. 
Of  the  most  obliging  courtesy,  genial,  generous  and 
confiding  ;  and  withal,  so  engaging  for  his  copious 
eloquence,  his  sjnnpathy  for  his  fellow  man,  and  his 
profound  views  of  the  questions  which  engaged  the 
public  attention,  all  persons  were  instinctively  attract- 
ed to  him,  nor  did  any  go  away  without  admiring 
him.  You  remember,  sir,  how  the  gentlemen  of  this 
House  were  accustomed  to  cluster  around  him,  and 
how  aflable  he  uniformly  was.  Nothing  alas  !  now 
remains  for  us,  but  the  last  sad  office  of  mourning 
friends,  to  commemorate  the  afllicting  dispensation. 
I  move  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolutions : 

Resolved,  That  Congress  has  heard,  with  the  deepest  sensibility, 
of  the  death,  in  this  city,  on  the  morning  of  Saturday,  the  18th 
instant,  of  the  Hon.  JOHN  TYLER,  a  member  of  this  Congress,, 
from  the  State  of  Virginia. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  testimonial  of  respect  for  the  memory  of 
this  illustrious  statesman  and  honored  patriot,  the  members  of  the 
Congress  will  wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning  for  thirty  days, 
and  will  attend  the  funeral  of  deceased  at  1'2  o^clock  to-morrow. 

Resolved,  That  a  Committee  of  one  member  from  each  State  be 
appointed  to  superintend  the  funeral  solemnities. 

Resolved,  That  the  proceedings  of  this  body,  rn  relation  to  the 
death  of  the  Hon.  John  Tyler,  be  communicated,  by  the  President 
of  Congre%s,  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark   of  respect  to  the  memory  of  ' 
the  deceased,  that  Congress  do  now  adjourn. 


REMARKS  OF  MR.  R.  M.  T.  HUNTER, 

OF   VIRGINIA. 


I  rise  to  offer  my  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory 
of  my  deceased  colleague,  with  mingled  emotions  of 
grief  and  pride  ;  of  grief  over  the  loss  of  such  a  man 
at  such  a  time,  and  of  pride  in  the  spectacle  of  a  life 
thus  nobly  closed,  when  so  full  of  years  and  honors. 

The  name  of  John  Tyler  has  passed  into  history, 
and  has  an  altar  of  its  own  in  that  great  sanctuary  of 
human  fame.  Its  ordeal  is  over.  Nothing  now  can 
dim  its  lustre,  as  it  is  borne  along  the  tide  of  time. 
It  has  been  said  that  the  story  of  the  humblest  life, 
when  rightly  told,  must  afford  food  for  the  prolitable 
study  of  man.  With  how  much  of  interest  then 
should  we  turn  to  the  contemplation  of  the  lives  of 
those  who  are  models  of  their  kind,  and  who  have 
furnished  examples  for  the  imitation  of  i)()sterity  ; 
of  those  whose  voices  have  been  the  most  persuasive 
-and  convincing  in  counsel,  or  whose  shout,  like  that 
'of  the  king,  has  been  most  potent  hi  marshalling 
hosts  for  the  battle.  Of  the  public  men  of  our  day, 
John  Tyler  has  been  one  of  the  most  marked  and 
distinguished.      With  hira  disappears  the  last,    but 


11 

one,  who  now  sits  in  this  chamber,  of  those  luminaries, 
who  adorned  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  when 
I  first  entered  upon  pubUc  Ufe.  In  him,  too,  we  lose 
the  last  of  that  illustrious  line  of  Southern  Presidents, 
whose  names  connected  us  with  the  hightest  honors 
of  the  Union,  from  which  we  have  just  parted.  Who 
does  not  feel  an  increasing  sense  of  separation  as  one 
by  one  pass  away,  not  only  the  links  of  material  in- 
terest, but  the  ties  of  personal  association  which  once 
bound  us  together. 

Few  have  filled  so  completely  as  Mr.  Tyler  the 
whole  circle  of  honors  which  are  open  for  the  aspira-» 
tion  of  our  public  men.  He  had  no  sooner  attained 
his  majority  than  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  of 
Virginia.  After  some  years  of  service  there,  he  was 
successively  made  a  member  of  the  Executive  Coun- 
cil, a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States,  Governor  of  Virginia,  Senator  of  the 
United  States,  Vice  President  of  the  United  States, 
and,  by  the  death  of  General  Harrison  and  through 
the  operation  of  the  Constitution,  Chief  Magistrate 
of  the  land.  Nor  did  his  public  career  close  even 
here.  When  the  gathering  clouds  presaged  the  storm 
which  is  now  sweeping  over  the  land,  he  was  called 
from  his  retirement  to  take  part  as  a  member  of  the 
Convention  of  Virginia.  By  the  General  Assembly 
of  Virginia  he  was  sent  to  the  Peace  Congress  in 
Washington,  over  whose  deliberations  he  presided, 
and  afterwards  he  was  elected  a  member  of  this 
Congress. 

Subsequently,  the  people  of  his  district  elected 
him  to  tlie  House  of  Representatives  in  the  Confed- 
erate Congress,  which  is  soon  to  assemble  in  this  place. 


12 

But,  rich  as  has  been  his  Hie  in  public  lionors,  it  has 
not  been  more  distinguished  for  tliem  tlian  by  its 
achievements.  From  the  very  commencement  of  his 
pubhc  hte  he  seems  to  have  distinguished  himself  in 
whatever  body  he  was  serving,  and  to  have  won  by 
his  eloquence  and  ability  a  leading  place  in  the  esti- 
mation of  his  associates.  A  zealous  advocate  of  the 
doctrines  of  the  State-Rights  party  of  Virginia,  he, 
for  the  most  part,  adhered  to  them  consistently 
through  a  long  and  arduous  career.  No  public  man 
of  his  day  labored  more  earnestly  than  he  did  for  the 
preservation  of  the  Constitution  ;  and  he  was  amongst 
the  first  to  declare,  along  with  the  great  Carolinian, 
that  the  Constitution  and  the  Union  were  one  and 
mseparablo.  From  the  period  of  the  first  nullifica- 
tion controversy,  from  the  time  when  he  voted  alone 
in  the  Senate  against  the  Force  Bill  np  to  his  last  ap- 
pearance in  Washington  at  the  Peace  Conference,  he 
seems  to  have  entertained  and  expressed  the  opinion 
that  the  two  must  live  or  perish  together.  The  same 
sense  of  the  paramount  obligation  upon  every  public 
man  to  preserve  the  Constitution  followed  him  into 
ills  administration  of  the  Executive  affairs  of  the 
United  States.  Forced  to  choose  between  a  desire 
to  gratify  his  personal  friends,  who  had  elected  him 
to  office  on  the  one  hand  and  a  conscientious  sense  of 
obligations  to  preserve  the  Constitution  on  the  other, 
he  chose  to  lose  his  friends,  painful  as  was  the  sacri- 
fice, and  to  discharge  his  duty  in  the  face  of  such  dif- 
ficulties as  no  other  President  had  as  yet  encountered. 
From  that  time  forward  it  was  his  lot  to  administer 
the  Government  in  the  midst  of  some  of  the  severest 
party   struggles  ever   known   in  the  history  of  the 


13 

country,  without  the  cordial  support  of  either  of  the 
great  pohtical  divisions  of  the  day.  But  in  default  of 
this  support  he  had  the  sagacity  to  gather  around  him, 
in  his  Cabinet,  some  of  the  first  intellects  in  the  land. 
Calhoun,  Webster,  Upshur,  Legarc  and  Gilmer,  ai<led 
him  to  conduct  one  of  the  most  marked  and  distin- 
guished administrations  in  the  history  of  American 
affairs.  It  was  this  administration  which  added  Tex- 
as, an  empire  in  territory,  to  the  Confederacy,  and 
which  closed  successfully  in  the  Ashburton  Treaty,  a 
long  and  complicated  negotiation  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  upon  certain  points  of  dif- 
ference between  them.  It  was  in  this  administration 
that  Mr.  Calhoun's  celebrated  letter  to  Mr.  King,  for 
the  first  time,  made  a  public  demonstration  before  the 
civilized  world,  of  the  right  of  the  slaveholding  States 
to  respect  and  protection  for  their  interests.  It  was 
this  administration,  too,  which  may  be  said  to  have 
dealt  the  final  and  fatal  blow  to  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States. 

But,  distinguished  as  was  this  administration  of 
public  affairs,  it  was,  perhaps,  not  so  remarkable  as 
his  subsequent  career.  He  had  already  reached  the 
years  of  three  score  and  ten,  when  he  left  his  retire- 
ment to  aid  in  making  up  that  great  issue  of  human 
destiny  which  is  now  being  submitted  to  a  trial  by 
battle  between,  as  it  is  said,  nearly  a  million  of  armed 
men.  True  to  the  doctrines  of  his  life-long  profes- 
sion, his  first  object  was  to  preserve  the  Constitution 
and  save  the  Union  along  with  it  ;  but,  wlien  tliat 
hope  was  gone,  none  were  more  decided  than  he  to 
cut  loose  his  State  from  its  perilous  association  with 
enemies  in   the  disguise  of  friends,  and  none  were 


14 

more  resolute  to  make  a  common  cause  with  the 
South  uimI  meet  all  the  consequences  of  the  act. 
From  the  day  when  Virginia  made  her  act  of  sepa- 
ration and  deliverance  comj)lete,  up  to  the  time  of 
his  death,  he  had  thrown  his  whole  soul  into  her 
cause,  an<l  may  he  said  to  h:ivo  exhausted  his  dyhig 
energies  in  the  eflbrt  to  maintain  and  defend  it. 
His  colleaf]:;ues,  who  ai-e  here  present,  will  bear  wit- 
ness to  the  truth  of  what  I  say,  when  I  affirm  that 
tliroughout  this  great  struggles,  his  courage  has  never 
quailed,  his  hope  has  never  faltered,  nor  has  his  })ur- 
pose  to  fight  it  out  to  the  last  extremity  ever  relaxed 
in  the  slightest  degree. 

Mr.  President,  we  may  truly  sa}^  that,  with  John 
Tyler  a  great  man  has  fallen  in  Israel,  and  in  that 
fall  a  grand  career  has  been  closed.  The  death  of  a 
good  man  is,  doubtless,  a  cause  for  grief  to  the 
friends  who  survive  him.  But  my  colleague  was, 
perhaps,  as  fortunate  in  the  circumstances  of  his 
death  as  ol'  his  lilo.  As  the  soldier  upon  the  field  of 
battle,  he  fell  at  the  post  of  duty,  and  when  his  life 
was  full  of  years  and  honors  it  passed  away  without 
a  pang.  He  left  us  belbi'e  age  had  bowed  his  frame 
or  dimmed  the  light  of  his  intellect,  and  he  resigned 
life  when  ils  lulure  course  was  beginning  to  promise 
here  more  of  pain  than  pleasure.  It  is  true  that  he 
did  not  live  to  witness  the  triumph  of  the  great  cause 
iu  which  he  had  embarked,  Init  he  had  seen  enough 
to  feel  that  its  ultimate  success  was  certain.  And 
now  that  "  the  fitful  fever's  o  er,"  let  him  sleep  well 
in  the  consciousness  of  a  well-spent  life,  and  of  hav- 
ing nobly  discharged  his  duties  to  his  country. 

To-morrow  we  shall  lav  him  beneath  his  mother 


15 

earth,  on  the  beautiful  bank  of  the  James,  where  his 
slumbers  shall  be  soothed  by  the  sound  of  its  falling 
waters.  Day  after  day  for  years  yet  to  come  the 
lights  of  morning  and  the  evening  shadows  shall  lend 
their  varied  and  silent  charms  to  the  quiet  scene  of 
his  deep  repose.  After  the  hour  of  trial  is  over  and 
the  great  work  of  our  deliverance  is  completed,  Vir- 
ginia, as  she  leans  on  her  bloody  spear  to  contemplate 
the  past  and  behold  the  resting  place  of  her  dead, 
will  raise  her  gauntletted  hand  to  brush  away  the 
tear  when  she  sees  the  grave  of  that  brave  old  man 
who  left  his  retirement  to  stake  his  fortune,  his  life, 
his  reputation  on  the  result  which  was  to  bring  her 
safety,  honor,  and  freedom.  She  will  embalm  his 
niemory  in  her  affections  and  hold  out  his  example 
for  the  imitation  of  generations  yet  unborn.  And 
*his  children,  and  their  children's  children,  will  pre- 
serve his  name  as  an  inheritance  of  priceless  value, 
an  heirloom  which  has  already  run  with  their  l)lood 
through  more  than  one  generation  of  men  distin- 
guished for  patriotism  and  virtue. 

Mr.  President,  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  draw  the 
portrait  of  the  dead.  His  is  a  character  which  men 
will  choose  to  study  for  themselves.  They  will  look 
for  it  in  the  monuments  of  his  own  creation  rather 
than  in  the  testimonials  of  his  friends.  But  perhaps 
I  may  say,  without  usurping  the  historian's  office, 
that  he  was  genial  and  kindly  in  all  the  relations  of 
private  life  ;  that  he  employed  the  gift  of  eloquence 
with  which  he  was  so  rarely  endowed  in  the  public 
service  rather  than  for  selfish  purposes  ;  that  his 
capacities  for  usefulness  seemed  always  to  rise  to  the 
level  of  the  demand  upon  them  ;  that  he  has  shown 


16 

himself  able  to  discharge  high  public  duties  under 
the  most  difficult  circumstances,  .ind  that  he  has 
served  his  State  witli  a  love  and  fidelity  which  are 
beyond  all  praise. 

But,  Mr.  President,  may  I  not  ask,  in  conclusion, 
if  there  is  nothing  in  the  present  occasion  from  wliich 
we  may  draw  a  lesson  useful  to  ourselves?  Is  there 
nothing  in  it  to  deepen  our  sense  of  the  uncertainty 
of  human  life  and  the  instability  of  human  ailairs? 
Within  how  short  a  period  has  death  twice  sent  its 
summons  in  our  midst,  dealing  his  blow  each  time  at 
a  shining  mark  ?  Does  not  this  impress  us  with  a 
sense  of  the  utter  worthlessness  of  the  little  span  of 
life  which  is  accorded  to  us,  if  it  be  uot  used  as  a 
preparation  for  a  better  and  more  enduring  state  of 
existence  ?  Surely  the  scene  around  us  must  bring 
home  to  us  the  truth  of  the  great  maxim  that  the 
duties  of  life  are  to  be  preferred  to  life  itself. 


REMARKS  OF  MR.  RIVES, 

OF   VIRGINIA. 


I  should  be  wanting,  Mr.  President,  to  my  own 
feelings,  if  not  to  the  memory  of  our  departed  friend, 
were  I  not  to  claim  the  privilege  of  an  older  and 
longer  acquaintance  with  him,  perhaps,  than  any 
other  member  on  this  floor  possessed,  to  add  a  few 
words  to  what  has  been  already  so  appropriately  and 
eloquently  said  by  my  honorable  colleagues.  It  is 
now  somewhat  more  than  half  a  century  since,  a 
school  boy  in  the  ancient  city  of  Williamsburg,  T 
first  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Tyler,  then  a  law 
student  of  our  common  Alma  Mater,  preparing  to 
enter  upon  the  career  of  active  life.  It  was  thus 
given  me  to  observe  the  whole  progress  of  his  orb  in 
the  heavens  from  its  first  appearance  above  the  hori- 
zon through  its  meridian  brightness  and  splendor,  to 
its  final  and  serene  setting  in  the  Western  sky,  which 
we  are  met  this  day  to  commemorate. 

As  a  young  man,  when  I  first  saw  Mr,  Tyler,  he 
was  distinguished  by  the  same  blandness  and  cour- 
tesy of  manners,  the  prepossessing  address,  and  the 


18 

graceful  and  captivating  elocution,  which  we  have  all 
seen  displayed  by  him  in  this  Hall.  These  qualities, 
tV.e  sure  j)assp()rt  in  a  government  like  ours,  to  popu- 
lar favor  and  public  distinction,  bore  him  rapidly 
through  a  succession  of  high  public  employments. 
As  soon  as  ho  was  of  age,  he  was  elected  by  his  na- 
tive county  of  Charles  City  to  the  House  of  Delegates 
of  Virginia.  His  first  session  in  that  body  was,  if  I 
mistake  not,  in  the  memorable  3'ear  of  1811-'12, 
wliich  witnessed  the  bold  measure  of  the  declaration 
of  war  made  by  the  United  States  against  Great  Bri- 
tain ;  and  the  youtliful  legislator  became,  thus,  closely 
identified  with  that  high-spirited  generation  of 
American  statesmen,  who,  succeeding  immediately  to 
the  great  men  of  the  Revolution,  and  catching,  as  it 
were,  the  mantle  of  the  prophet  as  it  fell  from  the 
fathers  of  the  Republic,  continued,  for  thirt}^  or  forty 
years  after  them,  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  the  Union 
with  a  patriotism,  ability  and  success  worthy  of  their 
noble  sires. 

In  the  different  representative  assemblies  of  which 
Mr.  Tyler  was  successively  a  member,  he  was  brought 
into  contact  with  the  highest  intellects  of  the  age. 
lu  the  Legislature  of  Virginia,  he  was  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Delegates  with  Littleton  Waller  Taze- 
well, Benjamin  Watkins  Leigh,  Charles  Fenton 
Mercer,  Robert  Stanard,  Philip  Doddridge,  General 
Blackburn,  and  many  othei's  of  the  most  gifted  spirits 
of  this  ancient  Commonwealth.  In  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States  he  was  contem- 
porary with  Henry  Clay,  William  Lowndes,  John 
Randolph,  Henry  St.  George  Tucker,  John  Forsyth, 
Louis   McLane,   and   a  host  of  other  distinguished 


19 

men  who  then  illustrated  the  national  forum.  Beins: 
generally  the  youngest  member  of  the  body  to  which 
he  belonged,  and  emulous  of  distinction,  he  was 
stimulated  to  the  highest  exertion  of  his  powers  by 
the  living  models  of  excellence  with  which  lie  was 
surrounded,  and  his  mind  was  thus  kept  in  a  perpetual 
progress  of  development  and  expansion. 

Trained  and  formed  under  these  auspices,  he* 
proved  himself  equal  to  all  the  various  and  arduous 
posts  of  public  duty  to  which  lie  was  called  by  the 
favor  and  confidence  of  his  countrymen.  In  the 
highest  of  them  all,  he  gave  an  honorable  proof  of  the 
elevation  and  magnanimity  of  his  character  by  bring- 
ing into  the  leading  Executive  Departments  tlie  most 
towering  talents  of  the  country,  to  aid  him  in  the 
administration  of  the  Government.  The  selection  of 
such  men  as  Webster,  Calhoun,  Legare,  Upshur  and 
Spencer,  proved  how  far  he  was  above  the  operation 
of  any  unworthy  sentiment  of  jealousy,  or  iear  of 
being  overshadowed  in  the  public  estimation  by  his 
official  advisers  ;  while  his  personal  management  of 
several  of  the  most  delicate  questions  of  his  admin- 
istration— I  refer  more  particularly  to  his  broad  and 
comprehensive  treatment  of  the  question  of  the  an- 
nexation of  Texas,  and  the  firmness  with  which  he 
upheld  the  cause  of  constitutional  republican  gcnerii- 
ment  in  Rhode  Island  against  the  outbreak  of  an  un- 
licensed democracy — attested  the  large  and  nialnred 
statesmanship  he  had  himself  acquired  in  tlic  .schools 
of  practical  instruction  in  which  he  was  bred. 

But  this  is  neither  the  time  nor  tlie  place  to  enter 
upon  a  discussion  of  the  merits  of  Mr.  Tyler's  admin- 
istration of  the  Federal  Government,  when,  by  a  sud- 


20 

den  and  unexpected  dispensation  of  Providence,  he 
was  placed  at  the  head  of  it.  No  one  would  more 
earnestly  have  deprecated  the  revival  of  forgotten 
controversies  than  himself.  Among  the  qualities 
which  most  eminently  and  honorably  distinguished 
him,  was  an  habitual  kindliness  of  disposition,  and  a 
generous  appreciation  of  others,  even  of  those  who 
were  his  political  enemies  and  opponents.  It  was 
about  two  years  ago,  in  this  city,  on  a  public  and 
memorable  occasion,  he  did  himself  the  highest  honor 
by  a  warm,  spontaneous  and  manly  tribute  to  the 
character  of  a  great  man  and  deceased  patriot,*  who 
had  stood  towards  him  in  the  attitude  of  a  powerful 
and  declared  opponent. 

In  reviewing  the  eventful  life  of  Mr.  Tyler,  we  are 
led,  almost  irresistibly,  to  apply  to  him  a  descriptive 
epithet  by  which  the  Romans  were  accustomed  to 
express  a  quality  that  ever  inspired  their  confidence 
and  admiration.  By  that  epithet— ^f7/.r — they  did 
not  mean  to  designate  a  person  who  was  merely  for- 
tunate, but  one  who,  b}^  a  happy  combination  of  well- 
tempered  attributes,  knew,  in  a  measure,  how  to 
command  or  propitiate  fortune.  This  sentiment  was 
embodied  by  them  in  a  maxun,  tersely  expressed  by 
tlieir  great  satirist — nullum  numen  habes,  si  sit  pru- 
dentia.  Thus  it  was  with  Mr.  Tyler.  By  a  rare 
union  of  })rudence,  good  sense  and  good  temper,  set 
off  by  the  natural  gifts  of  oratory  and  a  persuasive 
address,  he  won  the  hearts  of  the  people  and  secured 
the  favors  of  fortime  ;  and  success  waited  upon  him 
in  every  step  of  his  public  career. 

Mr.  Clay. 


21 

Delegate  in  the  Legislature  of  his  State,  represen- 
tative in  Congress,  Governor,  Senator,  Yice  Presi- 
dent, President — he  "sounded  all  the  depths  and 
shoals  of  honor  ;"  and  in  every  trust  he  acquitted 
himself  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  constituents.  After 
having  filled,  with  honor,  tlie  highest  offices  of  the 
Government  of  the  Union — which  sank,  at  length, 
under  the  degeneracy  and  corruption  of  the  times- 
he  lived  to  take  a  leading  part  in  the  establishment 
of  a  new  Confederacy  for  the  South,  which  liad  all 
his  affections  and  all  his  hopes  ;  and  as  a  member  of 
this  House,  he  gave  his  anxious  labors  to  the  great 
cause  of  securing  and  perpetuating  the  structure. 

His  duties  as  a  member  of  this  body  engaged  his 
deepest  solicitude.  Unwilling  to  withdraw  himself 
from  them  for  a  single  day  without  the  proper  and 
formal  sanction  of  the  House,  he  said  to  me  tlie  day 
before  the  fatal  termination  of  his  disease  that,  if  he 
should  be  compelled  to  go  home  to  recruit  his  health, 
as  he  should  probably  find  it  necessary  to  do,  he 
wished  me  to  apply  to  the  House  for  leave  of  absence 
for  him.  A  far  higher  authority,  the  great  Governor 
of  the  universe,  has  granted  him  that  leave  of  ab- 
sence— not  from  this  Hall  merely,  but  from  all  sublu- 
nary concerns  henceforward  forever.  He  now  rests 
from  his  labors  ;  but  he  has  bequeathed  to  us  the 
rich  inheritance  of  his  patriotic  example  and  of  his 
counsels. 

This  second  admonition  of  the  transitory  tenure  of 
human  existence,  with  which,  after  so  short  an  inter- 
val, we  have  been  visited  in  this  Hall,  reminds  us 
most  impressively  that  "  the  paths  of  glory  lead  but 
to  the  grave."     But  still  it  is  not  permitted  to  us  to 


22 

repine.  "One  generation  passeth  away  and  another 
o-enoralion  cometh  :  but  the  earth  abidetli   forever." 

o 

Here,  wliile  we  continue,  we  have  our  allotted  work  ; 
and  as  those  who  have  gone  before  us  have  labored 
and  toiled,  so  must  we,  in  our  turn,  toil  and  labor  to 
carry  forward  the  great  schemes  of  Infinite  Wisdom 
in  the  moral  government  of  the  world,  and  if  we  do 
so  in  humble  submission  to  the  will  of  Him  who 
ruleth  the  destinies  of  men  and  nations,  we,  too,  shall 
have  our  reward.  ^ 


n 


REMARKS  OF  MR.  WIGFALL, 

OF    TEXAS. 


[The  Secretary  regrets  that  he  is  unable  to  give  Gen.  WigfalTN 
eloquent  speech.  That  gentleman  was  suddenly  called  to  the 
army,  on  the  very  day  of  the  obsequies.  The  following  sketch 
appeared  in  the  Examiner  newspaper.  -  J.  J.  11.] 

Mr.  Wigfall  followed,  in  some  brief  remarks,  lie 
said  that  he  thought  it  would  not  be  becoming,  if 
some  one  from  the  State  of  Texas  was  not  present  to 
offer  testimonies  of  respect  and  sorrow  to  the  memo- 
ry of  the  deceased,  for  to  no  man,  living  or  among 
the  dead,  was  Texas  more  indebted  than  to  him. 
Exhausted  by  a  war  of  eight  ^^ears,  and  with  British 
Cabinets  plotting  against  her,  Texas  would  have  lost 
her  nationality  but  for  the  interposition  of  John  Ty- 
ler, and  to  him  it  may  be  said,  that  she  is  indebted 
for  her  very  existence. 

Mr.  Wigfall  proceeded  to  recite  the  events  in  the 
political  history  of  the  annexation  of  Texas,  the  cre- 
dit of  this  addition  of  an  empire  to  the  American 
Union  being  attributed,  in  his  statement,  to  the 
firmness  and  perseverance  of  Mr.  Tyler.  He  ad- 
verted to  his  illustrious  public  service  in  the  affairs  of 
the  Confederacy.  The  speaker  had  made  his  ac- 
quaintance, in  Washington,  last  winter.     Mr.  Tyler 


24 

had  come  there,  hoping  to  preserve  the  Union,  and 
he  found  the  Union  dead — dead,  but  lying  in  state,  as 
his  own  body  here,  with  pomp  and  circumstance 
around  it,  but  the  spirit  departed.  He  had  returned, 
to  do  liis  duty  to  Virginia  and  tlie  South,  and  it  might 
be  said,  that  it  was  under  his  leadersliip,  as  nuich  as 
that  of  any  other,  that  that  State  went  out  of  the 
Federal  Union.  To  the  last,  liis  life  was  one  of  illus- 
trious service  and  patriotic  devotion,  and  he  had  gone 
to  his  rest,  like  the  sinking  sun  on  the  horizon,  leav- 
ing a  very  atmosphere  of  light  behind  it. 


'^tK^t 


REMARKS  OF  MR.  VENABLE, 

OF    NORTH    CAROLINA. 


Mr.  President  :  After  a  short  interval  we  are 
called  upon  again  to  recognize  the  hand  of  death 
doing  his  work  amongst  us.  Another  of  our  col- 
leagues has  obeyed  the  summons.  Clothed  in  his 
robes  of  office  he  has  finished  the  work  assigned  him, 
and  sleeps  amongst  the  Fathers,  himself  one  of  that 
patriarchal  host.  ' '  The  hand  of  the  reaper  took  the 
ear  that  was  hoary,"  ripe,  matured  and  perfect.  A 
long  distinguished,  useful  life,  filled  with  the  service 
of  his  country,  alwa3^s  forming  a  portion  of  its  proud- 
est history,  has  closed  amidst  its  continuous  duties. 
Closed  amidst  scenes  of  domestic  endearment,  varied 
hy  obedience  to  the  call  of  his  country  in  lier  hour 
of  need,  and  at  the  last  illuminated  by  the  radiance 
of  that  friendship  which  legitimately  surrounds  the 
great  and  good  man  at  the  end  of  his  life.  When  I 
saw  him  in  this  Hall,  a  reverential  feeling  pervaded 
and  possessed  me.  I  listened  to  his  counsels,  learned 
from  liis  experience,  and  never  before  so  fully  realized 
the  conception  of  the  poet  who  assigned  to  Nestor 
the  office  of  composing  the  difficulties  and  solving  the 
perplexities  which  beset  the  Grecian  council  Ijcfore 
the  walls  of  Troy.  We  have  all  been  impi-cssed  with 
the  unimpaired  vigor  of  his  mind,  as  well  as  his  kind 
and  dignified  concession  on  measures  where   there 


26 

was  no  sacrifice  of  principle  to  expediency.  None  of 
us  have  forgotten  the  Roman  dignity  with  which  he 
changed  his  vote  upon  a  great  measure  in  order  that 
the  hiw  might  go  forth  to  tlie  country  with  the  pres- 
tige of  unanimity. 

The  son  of  a  revolutionary  sire  whose  life  consti- 
tutes so  much  of  the  history  of  that  struggle,  the  lire 
of  patriotism  early  kindled  upon  the  altar  of  his 
heart,  continued  to  glow  and  burn  with  increasing 
intensity,  until  his  name,  now  cni'olled  with  that  of 
his  distinguished  father,  will  descend  with  renewed 
claims  to  the  gratitude  of  posterity. 

Of  tlic  political  history  of  President  Tyler,  it  is 
not  my  purpose  to  extend  my  remarks.  We  have 
already  heard  most  interesting  details,  as  far  as  time 
would  permit ;  for  should  anything  more  than  a 
reference  be  made  to  a  career  of  fifty  years,  with 
small  intermission  in  the  service  of  a  country  which 
deliglited  to  honor  him,  it  would  protract  these  ])ro- 
ceediiigs  to  an  undesirable  length.  To  the  biographer 
and  the  historian,  this  work  must  be  assigned.  From 
the  year  1811,  as  a  legislator,  a  lawyer,  and  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  State,  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, the  Senate  and  the  Presidential  Chair,  he  filled 
all  the  ollices  in  the  gift  of  tlio  people  until  he  attained 
the  highest  which  they  could  bestow.  Educated  in 
and  belonging  to  the  Republican  States  Rights  School, 
he  never  failed  in  all  his  public  acts  to  recognize 
those  doctrines,  reserving  for  the  close  of  his  honored 
and  useful  life  the  crowning  act  which  made  those 
doctrines  practical  and  ()i)eralivc.  Retiring  from  the 
Presidency,  like  Cincinnatus,  to  his  farm,  within  the 
circle  of  a  lovely  family,  he  was  cheered  by  the  hope 


27 

which  all  wise  men  cherish  of  that  greatest  of  earthly 
blessings,  that  he  might  close  his  course  in  peace  and 
quietness.  This  realization  was  denied  him,  for  his 
country  called  for  him  again,  and  he  once  more  res- 
ponded to  her  call,  in  the  last,  the  noblest  service  of 
his  life.  For  whilst  we  admire  the  stern  consistency 
of  his  public  life  ;  his  resistance  of  the  Missouri  com- 
promise upon  the  broad  grounds  of  its  unconstitu- 
tionality ;  his  solitary  vote  in  the  Senate  against  the 
force  bill  ;  the  sagacity  which  he  displayed  in  the 
great  measures  of  his  administration  ;  the  wisdom 
with  wliich,  in  utter  disregard  of  party  tactics,  he 
surrounded  himself  with  the  greatest  and  the  best  of 
counsellors  ;  the  moral  courage  with  which  he  eman- 
cipated the  people  from  the  thraldom  of  the  money 
changers,  whose  fetters  were  well  nigh  fastened  upon 
them  ;  the  separation  of  the  Treasury  from  the  banks, 
and  the  annexation  of  the  vast  domain  of  Texas — 
they  all  pale  before  the  histor}^  of  the  last  year  of  his 
life.  Troubles,  which  many  feared,  and  some  antici- 
pated with  the  certainty  of  conviction,  came  upon  us, 
and  the  veteran  once  more,  in  armor  of  proof,  led  his 
countrymen  to  resistance.  He  saw  that  honor  and 
independence  were  periled,  and  his  great  soul  knew 
not  how  to  hesitate.  As  an  ambassador  of  Virginia 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  he  demanded, 
with  a  dignity  becoming  his  mission,  why  it  was  that 
the  guns  of  Fortress  Monroe,  built  upon  Virginia's 
soil  for  her  protection,  were  turned  against  her  bosom 
— a  fact,  although  existing,  was  by  that  functionary 
denied.  As  a  member  of  the  State  Convention,  and 
as  President  of  the  Peace  Congress,  his  high  purpose 
and  continual  claim  of  the  rights  of  the  South  marked 


28 

him  as  the  ''  Chief  of  the  Fathers,"  on  whose  firm- 
ness we  could  rely  and  in  wliose  wisdom  we  could 
confide.  The  masterly  speech  delivered  on  his  return 
to  the  Convention  from  the  Peace  Congress,  which 
exposed  tlic  impotent  and  degrading  conclusions  pro- 
posed by  lluit  body  to  liis  State,  w'ill  be  long  remem- 
bered. It  was  the  great  point  in  that  discussion,  it 
was  a  triumph  over  the  last  effort  at  submission,  and 
our  lamented  colleague,  looking  secession  and  its  con- 
sequences in  the  face,  feared  not  to  advise  and  to 
lead  in  the  consummation  which  now  presents  us  to 
the  world  as  llie  Confederate  States  of  America.  The 
great  master  of  English  Poetry  has  said  of  glory, 
"that,  like  a  circle  in  the  water,  it  never  cease th  to 
enlarge  itself  till  by  broad  spreading  it  disperses  to 
nought."  However  beautiful  and  true  this  illustration 
may  be  in  general,  it  fails  in  describing  the  glory 
won  by  our  illustrious  colleague,  the  centrifugal  force 
increased  with  the  extent  of  the  surface  of  its  influ- 
ence, each  succeeding  circle  stronger  and  more  dis- 
tinct, until  the  last,  rising  into  a  wave,  rellected  a 
light  wliich  adorned  its  whole  circumference  with  the 
radiance  of  the  bow  of  promise.  Our  eyes  have 
been  refreshed  by  that  light ;  we  have  witnessed  the 
vigor  of  liis  thoughts  and  the  power  of  his  eloquence, 
equalling,  if  not  surpassing  his  best  days.  His  name 
will  be  venerated  as  long  as  civil  liberty  and  national 
honor  is  clierishcd  by  the  South.  To  say  more  of 
this  great  passage  of  his  life,  would  be  to  attempt  to 
"add  fragrance  to  the  violet,  to  gild  refined  gold,  to 
give  smoothness  to  ice."  His  name  is  embalmed  in 
the  record  of  these  events,  and  their  irresistible  logic 
will  establish  his  claims  to  the  reverence  of  mankind. 


29 

But,  sir,  I  must  be  allowed  a  few  remarks  upon  the 
high  social  and  moral  qualities  of  President  Tyler. 
This  is  a  theme  on  which  it  is  delightful  to  speak  ;  it 
is  impressed  upon  my  heart  by  the  recollection  of 
early  kindness,  the  origin  of  a  friendship  of  more 
than  forty  years — the  value  of  which  is  more  justly 
appreciated  when  cut  off  by  the  cold  hand  of  death. 
I  am  not  alone  in  the  sadness  with  which  this  event, 
connected  with  similar  circumstances,  has  filled  my 
bosom.  The  same  acknowledgment  of  kindness,  and 
a  similar  sense  of  obligation  is  made  and  felt  by 
many  who  now  listen  to  me.  The  number  who  thus 
feel  is  limited  only  by  the  extent  of  his  vast  acquain- 
tance with  tlie  generations  which  have  grown  up 
around  and  about  liim.  It  was  often  said  of  him  by 
some  of  those  who  reviewed  his  unprecedented  suc- 
cess in  securing  the  confidence  of  his  countrymen, 
and  the  high  positions  which  he  attained  to  have  been 
a  fortunate,  a  lucky  man.  This  is  an  unphilosophical, 
a  contracted  view  of  his  character,  and  the  current 
of  events  in  which  he  mingled.  Luclc  and  fortune, 
sir,  are  heathen  words,  and  the  want  of  them  is  usual- 
ly the  excuse  for  failures,  when  the  cause  was  to  be 
found  in  those  who  have  failed.  His  kind  heart  and 
generous  instincts,  combined  with  a  thorough  know- 
ledge of  human  nature,  taught  him  that  it  was  as 
necessary  to  happiness  and  usefulness  to  increase  his 
stock  of  friends,  as  for  a  merchant  to  enlarge  his  cap- 
ital, wlieii  he  extended  his  business.  Time  and  death 
were  conliuually  curtailing  the  number  of  those  who 
were  young  when  he  was  young  ;  and  he  renewed 
his  strength  by  generous  and  disinterested  attentions 
to  the  rising  generation.     To  inspire  them  with  hope 


30 

when  launching  upon  tlie  ocean  of  life,  to  aid  virtu- 
ous enteri)rise,  to  cheer  the  desponding,  and  give  the 
liglit  of  his  experience  to  those  who  sought  it,  was 
his  peculiar  delight.  He  wisely,  henevolently  regu- 
lated his  intercourse  with  the  young.  "Age  is  dark 
and  unlovely,"  and  the  verdure  which  may  adorn  it, 
and  the  (lowers  which  nia}'  relieve  its  barren  aspect 
must  be  borrowed  from  them,  lie  who,  conscious  of 
the  advantages  of  age  and  experience,  withdraws  him- 
self from  those  to  whom  he  might  be  a  benefactor, 
repelling  their  ellorts  to  conciliate  his  regard  and  his 
confidence,  must  expect  a  lonely  old  age.  He  will 
stand  like  some  solitary  tree  in  an  extensive  plain — 
the  sjjort  of  every  blast,  the  victim  of  the  storm, 
whilst  the  friend  and  counsellor  of  the  3-oung,  will 
like  the  monarch  of  the  woods,  be  surrounded  by  a 
young  forest  which  shelters  and  })rotects  it,  roHecting 
the  brigiitness  of  their  foliage,  borrowing  vitality  from 
their  proximity,  and,  at  the  appohited  time,  sink  so 
gracefully  that  we  are  scarcely  conscious  of  its  decay. 
Our  lamented  friend  appreciated  all  this — and,  during 
his  long  and  distinguished  life,  often  felt  the  support 
of  hosts  who,  won  by  former  kindness,  rallied  to  his 
support  when  fiercely  assailed  and  almost  overcome. 
Such  events  wei-e  of  necessity  connected  with  such  a 
])olitic'al  life  as  his.  Universally  bland  and  concilia- 
tory in  his  intercourse  with  the  people,  he  scorned 
the  artilices  and  the  aims  of  the  demagogue,  regard- 
ing him  as  I  lie  worst,  the  most  dangerous  and  un- 
principled enemy  of  human  liberty.  Fixed  in  liis 
opinions  of  constitutional  law  and  the  sound  princi- 
ples of  its  athninistration,  he  was  sometimes  constrain- 
ed to  abandon  party  associations,  always  avowing,  as 


31 

the  reason  for  such  an  abandonment,  that  the  party 
with  which  he  was  associated  had  departed  from  the 
principles  of  their  organization.  He  was  thus  un- 
justly reproached  with  a  disregard  of  party  allegiance 
and  that  adherence  to  its  discipline  which,  in  the  eyes 
of  many,  is  worse  than  treason  to  the  State.  He 
looked  above  such  paltry  calculations,  and  was  thus 
more  than  once  in  a  minority — a  word,  the  very 
thought  of  which  carries  dismay  to  a  trading  politi- 
cian— a  word  which  had  no  terrors  for  him.  Sus- 
tained by  the  truth  and  the  conviction  that  he  was 
right,  the  hour  of  desertion  by  those  in  high  places, 
was  the  moment  of  his  triumph,  when  looking  above 
and  beyond  the  clamors  which  surrounded  him,  he, 
by  a  talismanic  power,  surrounded  himself  with  an 
impregnable  array  of  wisdom,  talent  and  statesman- 
ship which  secured  more  and  greater  advantages  to 
the  South  than  in  any  Administration  within  the  last 
half  century.  With  no  party  either  in  the  Senate  or 
House  of  Representatives,  he  conducted  the  affairs  of 
the  Republic  with  unexampled  success,  and  has  lived 
to  silence  all  complaint  and  unite  all  hearts  in  a  com- 
mon mourning  at  his  death. 

President  Tyler  was  not  vindictive,  he  was  not 
unjust,  he  was  not  even  harsh  in  his  judgment  when 
he  might  complain  of  wrong.  He  outlived  all  mis- 
construction of  his  motives,  and  his  last  days  were  il- 
luminated by  the  undivided  admiration  of  his  coun- 
trymen. He  knew  the  value  of  kindness  and  loved 
to  speak  kind  words  :  "Khid  words  are  the  brightest 
flowers  of  earth's  existence,  they  make  a  very  ])ara- 
dise  of  the  humblest  home  this  world  can  show. 
They  are  jewels  beyond  price,  and  more  precious  to 


OZ 


heal  the  wounded  heart  and  make  the  weighed  down 
spirit  glad  than  all  tlie  blessings  earth  can  give." 
Htre  teas  the  secret  of  his  luck,  the  cause  of  his  good 
fortune.  His  hosts  of  frieifds  increased  with  his 
years — here  his  wealth  was  inexhaustible — he  drew 
upon  a  bank  that  always  honored  his  drafts — the  love, 
the  gratitude  of  those  endeared  by  kind  offices,  "for 
Ecratitude  is  the  nuisic  of  the  lieart  when  its  chords  are 
touched  by  the  breezes  of  kindness.*'  From  associa- 
tions like  these,  he  has  sunk  gracefully  to  the  tomb, 
and  in  this  view  of  the  subject,  why  should  we  grieve; 
sorrow  we  may,  but  murmur  we  dare  not. 

For  him  was  not  reserved  physical  decay  to  com- 
bine compassion  with  our  reverence  ;  no  twiliglit  of 
the  mind,  like  a  polar  sunset,  making  darkness  visible. 
But  with  form  erect  and  step  elastic,  he  moved 
amongst  us,  and  was  of  us,  wliilst  his  mind,  like  the 
tropic  sun,  retained  its  size  and  brightness,  until  it 
sunk  beneath  the  wave  of  Deatli.  We  have  none  of 
those  painful  recollections  which  often  intrude  them- 
selves upon  us,'  when  the  great  and  good  sink  into 
senility  and  vegetate  out  of  existence, 

"Life  ebbs  from  such  old  age  unraark'd  and  silent 

As  the  slow  neaptide  leaves  yon  stranded  galley. 

Once  she  rock'd  merrily  at  the  least  impulse 

That  wind  or  wave  could  give  her;  but  now  her  keel 

Is  settling  in  the  fand.     Iler  mast  has  ta'en 

An  angle  with  the  sky,  from  which  it  shifts  not. 

Each  wave  receding,  shake  her  less  and  less, 

Till  bedded  on  the  strand,  she  shall  remain 

Useless  as  motionless." 

No  sucli  sad  finale  awaited  him.  Like  a  gallant 
ship  returning  home  after  a  long  and  pros})erous 
passage  over  the  ocean,  the  haven  is  reached,  the 
anchor  let  go,  and  life's  voyage  is  ended. 


33 

Sir,  this  scene  is  to  me  a  painful,  but  instructive 
lesson.  As  we  advance  in  j^ears,  the  loss  of  those 
long  regarded  as  friends  is  indeed,  irreparable.  To 
the  older  of  us  it  announces  that  the  time  is  short, 
our  duties  urgent,  what  we  do  must  be  done  quickly 
and  done  well,  remembering  our  duty  to  God  and 
to  posterity.  To  us  all,  that  we  are  strangers,  pil- 
grims, travellers  for  a  short  season,  surrounded  b}- 
fearful  responsiblities,  and  the  certainty  of  death. 
Let  us  look  above  and  beyond  every  consideration, 
but  that  which  we  profess  to  represent,  the  interests 
and  welfare  of  our  bleeding  countr}-.  Let  our  for- 
tune be  hers  ;  her  safety  and  honor  our  highest  aim. 
Rejecting  all  lower  motives,  let  us  emulate  his 
patriotism,  who  with  all  the  endearments  of  his  family 
around  him,  could  cheerfully  die  in  her  service,  leav- 
ing his  widow  and  infant  children  to  his  country  and 
his  God.  Two  of  our  number,  after  a  brief  illness^ 
have  bowed  their  heads  and  died.  Let  us  seek  the 
Christian's  hope  as  the  assurance  of  the  Christian's 
Heaven. 

Sir.  a  great  light  has  been  extinguished  in  this 
hall  ;  but  there  is  a  home  once  brightened  by  it 
which  has  lost  much  of  its  brilliancy.  The  mild,  the 
lovely  ray,  which  softened  and  relieved  that  stronger 
light,  now,  in  sadness,  shines  alone.  I  witnessed  its 
genial  influence  in  the  face  of  the  sick,  the  dying 
statesman.  I  heard  him  speak  of  his  wife  and  his 
young  children,  and  commit  them  to  God  and  his 
country.  May  He  who  has  said  "  leave  your  father- 
less children  to  me "  smile  upon  and  bless  the  be- 
reaved household  with  His  blessing,  which  maketh 
rich  and  addeth  no  sorrow  therewith. 
3 


REMARKS  OF  MR.  R.  BARNWELL  RHETT, 

OF    SOUTH    CAROLINA. 


Mil.  President  :  I  am,  perhaps,  the  oldest  pohti- 
cal  associate  of  the  deceased  on  this  floor,  excepting 
citizens  from  Virginia  ;  and  South  Carohna  was  pecu- 
harly  identified  with  him,  in  the  leading  acts  of  his 
administration,  when  President  of  the  United  States. 
For  these  reasons,  it  is  perhaps,  not  improper  that  I 
should  say  a  few  words  upon  the  sad  occasion  which 
has  brought  us  together. 

My  acquaintance  with  the  deceased  commenced 
when  he  was  at  the  zenith  of  political  power.  He 
was  President  of  the  United  States,  by  the  death  of 
General  Harrison.  At  first,  those  of  us  who  belonged 
to  the  State  Rights  party  or  the  South,  stood  aloof 
from  him.  He  had  been  elected  Yice  President 
upon  the  Whig  ticket  with  General  Harrison.  They 
were  opposites  in  politics.  The  one  was  a  consoli- 
dationist — the  other  a  strict  constructionist.  Many 
of  the  State  Rights  party  looked  upon  this  con- 
junction, with  the  sternest  reprobation.  Twenty 
years  has  passed  since  that  time.  The  passions 
which  agitated  the   day,    have  gone   to   rest ;  and 


95 

we  are  now  able  to  do  justice  to  the  motives  and 
conduct  of  those  who  differed  from  us.  All  the 
great  questions,  with  the  parties  they  produced,  which 
influenced  or  controlled  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  are  gone  into  history  ;  and  are  never  again  to 
have  any  application  to  the  living.  The  great  states- 
men who  ruled  them — Clay,  Webster,  Calhoun.  Le- 
gare,  Marshall,  Leigh — were  all  equally  patriotic.  On 
the  other  side  of  the  Potomac,  the  government  of 
the  United  States  has  lapsed  into  a  consolidated  des- 
potism. On  this  side  of  the  Potomac,  we  have  cast 
them  out  of  our  councils,  by  the  Constitution  we  have 
adopted  for  ourselves.  Parties  will  doubtless  arise 
in  the  Confederate  States ;  but  they  will  turn  on 
totally  different  issues  than  any  which  arose  under 
the  government  of  the  United  States.  Considering, 
then,  the  events  of  1840  as  mere  matters  of  history, 
was  it  wrong  in  the  deceased  to  have  consented  that 
his  name  should  have  been  united  with  that  of  Gen- 
eral Harrison  in  the  Presidential  election  of  that  year  ? 
That  the  Democratic  part}^  had  become  greatly  de- 
moralized by  its  long  possession  of  power,  is  un- 
doubted. It  had  brought  the  Union  to  the  verge  of 
dissolution  by  the  tariff  of  1828,  in  the  subsequent 
contest  of  1832  and  '33.  Those  of  us  of  the  State 
Rights  party  who  assented  to  support  Mr.  Van 
Buren  against  General  Harrison  required  a  distinct 
declaration  of  principles  as  the  condition  of  our  sup- 
port. Accordingly,  the  Hon.  Francis  Thomas,  of 
Maryland,  and  myself,  were  appointed  to  prepare  the 
Address  put  forth  to  the  people  of  the  United  States 
by  the  Democratic  members  of  Congress,  just  previous 
to  the  Presidential  election.     Mr.  Tyler,  who  had 


36 

been  promineut  in  the  Senate  in  the  contest  of  '32, 
thought  less  of  the  Democratic  party  than  we  did. 
He  deemed  it  hopelessly  corrupt ;  and  that  it  was  a 
work  of  patriotism  to  unite  all  the  elements  of  op- 
position to  eject  it  from  power.  Accordingly,  he 
joined  the  Whig  party,  to  constitute  a  mere  opposi- 
tion party,  without  any  principles,  or  declaration  of 
principles,  to  overthrow  the  Democratic  party  in  the 
Presidential  election.  Was  he  wrong?  Have  not 
subsequent  events  proved,  that  the  Democratic  party 
of  the  North  was  just  as  hostile  to  the  rights  of  the 
South  as  their  opponents  ?  When  they  joined  us,  it 
was  to  subserve  their  sectional  interests.  Their  co- 
action  was  only  policy.  In  1852  they  wrested  Cali- 
fornia from  us.  In  the  late  Presidential  election 
they  joined  the  sectional  effort  for  our  subjugation  ; 
and  now  they  swell  the  armies  of  the  United  States, 
our  bitterest  and  most  most  malignant  foes.  Dallas, 
Dickinson,  Wilkins,  McClernand,  Dix,  are  foremost 
in  urging  on  the  work  of  slaughter  and  desolation 
over  the  South.  The  truth  is,  the  South  never  had 
any  real  friends  at  the  North.  With  the  lights  of 
the  present  day,  can  we  condemn  the  course  of  any 
statesman  of  the  South  for  any  course  of  opposition 
to  such  invidious  and  deadly  enemies  ? 

President  Tyler,  on  becoming  President,  soon 
found  himself  surrounded  with  the  most  embarrass- 
ing difficulties.  Those  who  acted  together  as  an  op- 
position could  not  agree  on  any  policy,  so  soon  as 
they  attained  power.  They  had  the  possession  of 
the  Government,  and  must  rule  it  by  some  policy. 
The  Whigs,  with  Mr.  Clay  at  their  head,  insisted  that 
that  policy  should  be  the  policy  of  the  Whigs,  and 


I 


S7 

that  they  should  begin  with  re-establishing  a  United 
States  Bank.  Mr.  Tyler  protested  against  such  an 
assumption.  His  State  Rights  principles  were  well 
known,  and  he  Avas  placed  on  the  presidential  ticket 
on  account  of  them.  He  would  not  abandon  them. 
The  honorable  gentleman  over  the  way  from  Vir- 
ginia, (Mr.  Rives,)  also  protested  against  such  a 
course,  and  met  Mr.  Clay  in  high  and  stern  debate 
m  the  Senate,  on  the  incorporation  of  a  United  States 
Bank.  I  was  present  at  that  debate  ;  and  imposing 
and  great  as  Mr.  Clay  always  was  hi  the  Senate,  he 
was  more  than  matched  by  the  dauntless  energy  ar.d 
ability  displayed  by  m}'^  honorable  friend  ;  and  Mr. 
Clay  seemed  to  me  to  be  conscious  of  it.  The  truth 
was,  the  Senator  from  Virginia  had  the  right,  1 
think,  on  his  side,  and  wielded  its  weapons  with  a 
courage  and  force,  which  won  for  him  the  admiration 
of  all  spectators.  The  Bank  bill,  nevertheless 
passed  ;  and  President  Tyler  vetoed  it.  Sir,  I  wit- 
nessed the  tremendous  denunciations  of  Mr.  Clay, 
in  the  Senate,  of  President  Tyler,  for  this  act  of 
simple  consistency,  with  all  the  political  principles  of 
his  life.  It  was  the  most  fiery  and  magnificent  display 
of  eloquence  I  ever  heard,  excepting  on  one  other 
occasion.  Mr.  Clay,  I  doubt  not,  was  as  honest  as  he 
was  earnest  in  these  denunciations,  but  who  now  will 
condemn  the  deceased  for  his  course  ?  Mr.  Clay 
carried  the  party  with  him.  Cut  off  thus  from  all 
parties,  he  determined,  if  possible,  to  enforce  in  the 
Government  the  principles  he  had  professed  ;  and, 
for  this  end,  to  throw  himself  upon  the  State  Rights 
party.  He  offered  Mr.  Calhoun  the  office  of  Secre- 
tary of  State,  with  the  power  (common  to  the  Pre- 


38 

mier  of  England )  of  forming  the  Cabinet.  Mr. 
Calhoun  consulted  the  honorable  delegate  from  Vir- 
ginia (Mr.  Hunter)  and  myself,  whetlier  he  should 
accept  of  the  office.  Both  of  us  earnestly  advised 
him  to  accept  it.  After  a  night's  consideration,  how- 
ever, he  rejected  it.  The  Whig  party  was  broken 
by  the  veto,  and  by  the  succeeding  elections  was  over- 
thrown. 

At  a  late  period  of  his  administration,  Mr.  Cal- 
houn entered  his  Cabinet  as  Secretary  of  State,  with 
a  view  of  annexing  Texas  to  the  Union — the  other 
great  measure  of  Mr.  Tyler's  administration.  It  is 
not  easy  at  the  present  day  to  understand  the  state 
of  things  existing  at  this  time.  They  were  felt,  rather 
than  seen.  The  determination  of  the  North  to  rule 
the  South  could  be  understood,  but  could  not  be  proved 
to  exist.  The  annexation  of  Texas  was  opposed  by 
them  for  no  other  reason  than  that  it  strengthened 
the  South,  and  impeded  their  progress  to  national 
dominion.  In  all  other  respects,  it  was  of  vast  ad- 
vantage to  them.  At  an  early  period  of  his  admhi- 
istration,  President  Tyler  had  meditated  annexing 
Texas  to  the  Union.  He  accomplished  it,  and  gained 
a  vast  territory  for  the  South  ;  but  it  helped  on  by 
its  agitators  to  drive  the  sections  asunder.  From  this 
time  forth,  every  measure  of  importance  in  the  Gov- 
ernment assumed  a  sectional  character,  until  at  last,  by 
the  late  Presidential  election,  the  South  was  compel- 
led to  choose  her  destiny,  of  subjection  in  the  Union,  or 
independence  out  of  it.  Although  long  in  retire- 
ment. President  Tyler,  came  forth  to  meet  the  emer- 
gency. His  ellbrts  to  save  tlie  Union,  consistent  with 
the  safety  of  the  South,  were  in  vain  ;  and  he  took 


d9 

his  stand  for  uniting  Virginia  to  the  Southern  Con- 
federacy. His  labors  for  this  purpose  belong  to  hie 
State,  but  their  fruits  to  the  Confederacy. 

Mr  President,  as  age  advances,  the  imagination 
usually  declines.  Burke  and  Milton,  were  exceptions 
to  this  usual  effect  of  time.  Perhaps,  however,  this 
result  is  often  more  apparent  tlian  real.  Indifference 
may  produce  the  same  effect  as  weakness.  As  age 
advances,  the  vanity  of  all  things  terrestial  is  forced 
upon  the  mind.  Interest  flags  ;  and  without  interest 
the  power  of  the  mind  cannot  be  evolved.  The  effect  of 
apathy  is  mistaken  for  decay.  The  distinguished  dead 
before  us,  seemed  to  possess,  to  the  last,  all  the  energy 
and  fire  which  an  undimmed  imagination  and  the 
strongest  interest  in  public  affairs  produce.  You  all 
remember  the  speech  he  delivered  at  our  last  session, 
on  the  imposition  of  taxes,  Virginia,  and  her  con- 
tributions and  sufferings — the  Confederate  States, 
and  their  high  duties  and  obligations — our  noble 
cause  and  the  lofty  destiny  which  awaited  us — were 
the  themes  of  his  graceful  and  striking  oratory.  The 
youngest  of  us  could  not  have  spoken  with  more  fire 
and  force.   His  faculties  seemed  undimmed  to  the  last. 

The  deceased  appeared  to  me  to  possess  remarka- 
ble equanimity  of  temper.  With  the  deepest  interest 
in  public  aflQiirs,  he  had  but  little  of  that  acerbity 
which  the  conflicts  of  public  life  are  but  too  apt  to 
produce  against  political  foes.  He  was  an  honest 
man,  not  merely  in  the  vulgar  sense  of  the  term, 
confined  to  pecuniary  relations,  but  in  that  higher 
meaning  of  the  poet,  when  he  says  that  "an  honest 
man  is  the  noblest  work  of  God."  He  gave  every 
man  his  due — in  their  characteristics,  in  their  ser- 


40 

vices,  in  their  moral  worth.  He  liad  none  of  that 
narrow  vindictiveness  in  the  administration  of  pubUc 
affairs,  which  makes  them  tributary  to  personal  pas- 
sions. He  was  faithful  to  himself,  whilst  faithful  to 
the  country.  He  lifted  himself  to  the  dignity  of  his 
positions,  and  filled  the  great  offices  entrusted  to  him 
with  a  single  view  to  the  objects  for  which  they  were 
created.  He  was  a  man  of  the  kindliest  benevolence; 
yet  he  could  see,  even  in  the  suiTerings  and  desola- 
tions of  war,  the  hand  of  a  benificent  Providence 
working  out  the  grand  result  of  an  eternal  separa- 
tion from  our  foes.  A  truer  and  brav^er  upholder  of 
the  independence  of  the  Confederate  States  did  not 
exist  throughout  our  wide  borders. 

Sir,  in  conversation  held,  just  before  I  left  here  to 
attend  the  Convention  of  South  Carolina,  whilst 
pacing  yonder  portico,  he  mentioned  to  me  the 
eflbrts  he  had  made  in  the  Peace  Conference  at  Wash- 
ington, to  satisfy  the  Northern  delegates  of  the  inesti- 
mable value  of  the  South  to  them.  He  urged,  that 
any  great  nation  in  Europe  would  give  countless 
millions  for  the  advantages  the  Union  alTorded  them; 
but  he  was  apparently  unable  to  produce  the  least  im- 
pression, to  arrest  their  obstinate  persistence  in  a  policy 
of  non-concession.  But  as  soon  as  we  had  cast  off  the 
union  with  them,  they  seemed  to  be  suddenly  awaked 
to  the  tremendous  ruin  they  had  dragged  down  upon 
themselves  ;  "  and  now,  sir,"  he  added,''  "  they  pro- 
pose, by  murdering  our  people  and  desolating  our 
country,  to  force  us  back  into  an  association  with 
them,  that  we  might  again  minister  to  their  aggran- 
dizement and  wealth  ;  but  as  a  just  God  lives  they 
must  fail."     Mr.   President,   even  though  dead,  he 


"   41 

speaketh.  "As  a  just  God  lives,  they  must  fail." 
His  venerable  form  will  no  longer  be  seen  amongst  us. 
His  voice  will  no  longer  be  heard  to  support  the  great 
cause  in  which  we  are  engaged  ;  but  the  pious  con- 
viction he  uttered  will  be  realized  in  history.  May 
we  not  suppose  his  voice  to  be  the  voice  of  prophecy  ; 
and  that  that  glorious  reality  he  so  much  desired  to 
see,  of  a  redeemed,  free  and  happy  people  in  the 
Confederate  States,  will  have  its  righteous  consum- 
mation— "  as  a  just  God  lives,  they  must  fail !  " 

Mr.   President,  South  Carolina  mingles  her  grief 
with  Virginia,  over  the  loss  of  her  illustrious  son. 


Congress,  January  25,  1862. 

I  certify  that  the  resohitions,  introduced  as  afore- 
said, by  Mr.  Macftirland,  of  Virginia,  were  unani- 
mously adopted  by  the  Congress  of  the  Confederate 
States  of  America,  on  the  twentieth  day  of  January, 
in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-two. 

JOHNSON  J.  HOOPER, 
Secretary  of  the  Congress. 


PROCEEDINGS 


31st  January,  1863. 


Congress,  January  25,  1862. 

I  certify  that,  on  the  twenty-first  day  of  January, 
in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-two,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  obsequies  of  the  honorable  John 
Tyler,  of  Virginia,  the  following  prayer  w^as  offered 
in  the  Hall  of  the  Congress,  in  the  city  of  Richmond, 
in  the  State  of  Virginia,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hoge  ;  and 
that  the  discourse  which  follows,  was  delivered 
in  St.  Paul's  Church  by  the  Right  Reverend  John 
Johns,  Assistant  (Episcopal)  Bishop  of  the  Diocese 
of  Virginia.  J.  J.  HOOPER, 

Secretary  of  the  Congress. 


PRAYER  BY  REV.  DR.  HOGE. 


The  first  exercise  in  Congress  after  the  House  was 
called  to  order,  and  before  the  body  was  removed  to 
the  church,  was  the  offering  of  the  following  prayer, 
by  Rev.  Dr.  Hogc,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  : 

"  Almighty  and  ever-blessed  God  !  Thou  hast  estab- 
lished Thy  throne  in  the  Heavens,  and  Thy  kingdom 
ruleth  over  all.  The  hearts  of  the  children  of  men 
are  in  Thy  hand  ;  their  lives  are  subject  to  Thy  con- 
trol ;  at  Thy  command  their  bodies  return  to  the 
dust,  and  their  spirits  go  to  the  God  who  gave  them. 

"We  humbly  beseech  Thee  to  make  us  deeply 
sensible  of  our  dependence  on  Thee,  and  to  fill  us 
with  reverence  and  godly  fear.  And  now,  that  we 
are  about  to  go  to  the  House  of  God,  there  to  hear 
the  instruction  of  Th}"  Holy  Oracles,  and  thence  to 
the  grave,  there  to  behold  the  place  appointed  for  all 
the  living,  we  pray  Thee  '  make  us  to  know  our  end, 
and  the  measure  of  our  days,  what  it  is,  that  we  may 
know  how  frail  we  are.'  And  may  Thy  Holy  Spirit 
so  accompany  the  solemn  scenes  and  services  of  the 
day  that  we  may  thereby  be  better  prepared  for  all 
that  awaits  us  in  future  life,  for  the  hour  of  death, 
and  for  the  felicities  and  glories  of  Thine  Everlasting 
Kingdom,  through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord.     Amen." 


FUNERAL  ADDRESS,  BY  RIGHT  REV.  J. 
JOHNS,  D.  D. 


"  Render,  therefore,  to  all  their  dues.         «         «         «         Honor 
to  whom  honor  is  due." — Rom.  xni :  7. 

In  rising  to  perform  the  solemn  and  responsible 
service  which  has  been  assigned  me  in  connection 
with  this  mournful  dispensation  of  Divine  Providence, 
I  feel  that  I  should  trespass  on  the  appropriate  pro- 
vince of  others,  if  I  were  to  presume  even  to  sketch 
the  public  character  and  course  of  the  venerable 
statesman  around  whose  bier  we  are  assembled.  The 
grateful  tribute  which  these  deserve  has,  in  some 
measure,  been  cordiall}^  rendered  by  those  more  con- 
versant with  his  distinguished  career  of  usefulness 
and  honor,  and  more  capable  of  delineating  them 
with  accuracy  and  completeness.  They  are  the  rich 
and  precious  legacy  of  his  country,  and  will  be  con- 
spicuously recorded  in  her  annals  as  materials  to 
adorn  her  history,  and  to  animate  and  guide  others 
by  the  salutar}'-  example  which  they  afford. 

His  eventful*  and  extended  life,  however,  from  its 
commencement  to  its  close,  abounds  in  passages  of 
uncommon  interest,  within  the  range  of  less  elevated 
observation,  to  which  we  ma}''  here  briefly  advert 
with  honor  to  his  memory  and  profit  to  ourselves. 


48 

JoHxV  Tyleu  was  the  worthy  son  of  a  patriotic 
sire,  from  whose  lips  he  received  those  lessons  of 
political  wisdom  which  gave  their  cast  to  his  charac- 
ter, controlled  his  course  through  life,  and  made  him 
eminently  a  blessing,  not  only  to  this  Commonwealth, 
but  to  his  whole  country. 

Imbued  with  the  instructions,  and  impressed  by  the 
example  of  his  parental  home,  he  was  sent,  at  an 
early  age,  to  the  City  of  Williamsburg,  that  he  might 
there  enjoy  the  advantages  i'urniyhed  by  the  College 
of  William  and  Mary,  then  in  its  palmiest  days. 
There,  under  the  tuition  of  its  distinguished  Presi- 
dent and  learned  Professors,  and  in  association  with 
many  gifted  youths  of  high  aspirations  and  of  emu- 
lous excellence,  animating  each  other  in  the  paths  of 
literature  and  science — his  intellectual  endowments 
were  brought  out  into  healthy  activity,  and  disciplined 
to  habits  of  diligent  application,  and  careful  compre- 
hensive and  manly  thought,  wliilst  the  patriotic  })rin- 
ciples  of  the  homestead  were  matured  to  a  vigor,  and 
stereotyped  with  a  distinclnoNS,  which  early  gained 
for  him  the  generous  and  lasting  confidence  of  his 
fellow-citizens  ;  and  which  neither  yielded  to  the 
sinister  pressures,  nor  were  obscured  by  the  corrupt 
atmosphere  which  seem  insepaiable  i'rom  eminent 
position  and  political  power. 

To  his  connection  with  the  venerable  institution  of 
which  he  was  an  alumnus,  and  the  stirring  incidents, 
and  the  early  but  abiding  friendships  of  his  college 
course,  which  linked  him  for  life  with  those  who  sub- 
sequently shared  in  his  usefulness  and  renown,  he 
was  wont  to  recur  with  a  glow  of  enthusiasm  which 
age  did  not  abate,  and  a  graphic  power  which  vividly 


49 

reproduced  the  scenes  which  he  deUghted  to  enume- 
rate. To  these  spirited  recitals  the  graver  subjects 
of  Ufe  seasonably  gave  place,  and  those  honored  with 
his  acquaintance  cannot  forget  the  pleasure  with 
which  they  have  listened  to  those  interesting  reminis- 
cences. His  Alma  Mater  never  lost  her  place  in  his 
heart — never  needed  counsel  or  support  which  he 
was  not  ready  to  render  ;  and  in  return,  wliilst  she 
joyfully  watched  the  career  of  her  favored  son,  she 
delighted  to  express  her  gratitude  by  decking  his 
honored  brow  with  every  garland  in  her  gift.  Always 
a  leading  member  in  the  Board  of  Visitors,  he  was 
first  advanced  to  its  Presidency,  and  at  last  chosen  to 
its  Chancellorship — an  ofiice  in  which  he  had  no  pre- 
cursor but  the  Father  of  his  Country,  from  whose 
death  it  was  kept  vacant  from  profound  respect  for 
his  memory,  till  by  acclamation  our  departed  brother 
was  declared  his  worthy  successor. 

True  to  his  early  training  and  instinct,  with  the 
fine  spirit  of  the  period  when  he  attained  to  manhood, 
his  step  was  steady,  his  course  consistent,  and  his 
movements  onward  and  upward,  with  manly  bearing 
and  salutary  influence,  to  the  loftiest  eminence  assign- 
ed to  those  whom  the  State  and  nation  delight  to 
honor.  He  had  made  himself  necessary  to  both. 
Neither  could  afford  to  dispense  with  his  valuable 
services.  Such  a  man  need  not,  if  he  could,  spend 
his  time  and  strength  in  catering  for  his  personal 
popularity,  and  in  unworthy  wrestlings  with  competi- 
tors for  place  and  power,  and  profit.  The  public  eye 
will  find  him  out ;  public  want  call  for  his  aid  ;  the 
public  hand  draw  from  his  modest  retirement,  and 
give  him  the  position  and  honor  for  which  noisy  aspi- 


60 

rants  should  be  left  to  pine  in  merited  negleet.  And 
such  has  been  the  history  of  our  lamented  brother, 
from  the  hour  \vhen  he  left  the  shades  of  his  beloved 
university  up  to  the  moment  when  we  assemble  to 
consign  his  bod}-,  shrouded  in  the  drapery  of  death, 
to  an  honorable  grave. 

His  appreciated  intelligence  was  needed  in  our 
counsels,  and  the  people  of  his  country  send  him  as 
their  representative  man — the  interests  of  the  Com- 
monwealth need  peculiar  administrative  power,  and 
he  is  placed  in  the  Gubernatorial  chair  ;  the  Senate 
of  his  country  calls  for  the  wisdom  of  experience  and 
the  refinement  of  a  gentlemen  to  influence  its  pro- 
ceedings ;  and  the  Legislature  of  his  State  commis- 
sion him  as  their  sage  and  model.  The  country  at 
large  look  for  men  of  superior  ability  and  sterling- 
worth  to  manage  their  interest  and  determine  their 
destiny  ;  and  he  is  chosen  by  the  nation  to  stand  next 
to  its  Chief  Magistrate,  and  soon,  by  the  Providence 
of  God,  he  is  placed  in  the  Presidential  chair.  "  Honor 
to  whom  honor  is  due." 

We  cannot  say  his  course  culminated  here,  for  it 
experienced  no  subsequent  decline.  Its  brightness 
and  general  influence  were  not  diminished  by  the 
altered  line  of  his  orbit.  Though  this  passed  for  a 
season  to  a  region  of  which  ordinary  vision  is  less 
observant,  and  radiated  its  light  through  a  medium 
which  rendered  it  less  obvious  to  the  public  eye, 
he  was  only  gathering  new  energy,  that  in  the 
approaching  hour  of  his  country's  gloom,  he  might 
come  forth  with  renewed  force,  and  rejoice  as  a  strong 
man  to  run  his  race.  But  experience  has  proved, 
that  it  was  not  for  created  light  to  dispel  the  darkness 


51 

and  check  the  corruption  which  broodocl  over  and 
poisoned  the  fountains  of  national  power.  The  hght 
which  was  ineflectual  there  was  given  to  our  ])ath — 
how  clearly,  and  with  what  force  and  happy  effect  we 
do  not  yet  perhaps,  duly  appreciate.  In  its  direct 
action  for  our  benefit  it  has  ceased.  I  will  not  say 
set,  for  notwithstanding  the  lengthened  day,  its 
radiance  was  not  dimmed.     It  went  down  at  noon. 

He,  who  so  long  lent,  has  withdrawn  the  blessing 
not  in  displeasure,  I  trust,  bat  to  teach  us  not  to  put 
our  confidence  in  man,  "  whose  breath  is  in  his  nos- 
trils," but  in  God,  who  liveth  and  abideth  forever — 
"  For  all  flesh  is  as  grass,  and  all  the  glory  of  man  as 
the  flower  of  grass.  The  grass  withereth,  and  the 
flower  thereof  passeth  away,  but  the  word  of  the  Lord 
endureth  for  ever." 

From  the  eflect  of  this  arrangement  there  is  no 
dispensation.  "  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the 
world,  and  death  by  sin,  and  so  death  passed  upon 
all  men,  in  that  all  have  sinned."  This  is  a  warfare 
from  which  there  is  no  discharge.  It  is  not  a  fortui- 
tous event,  but  a  Divine  appointment — "appointed 
to  men  once  to  die." 

This  decree  is  irresistible  in  its  force,  and  universal 
in  its  application.  One  generation  passeth  away,  and 
another  cometh,  as  wave  followeth  wave  on  the  ocean, 
to  break  and  disappear  on  the  dark  shore.  Death  is 
inexorable.  If  usefulness  could  have  staid  the  stroke 
it  would  not  have  prostrated  that  venerable  form.  If 
temporal  distinction  could  have  dazzled  the  vision  and 
distracted  the  aim,  his  fatal  shaft  would  not  have 
pierced  that  heart.  If  personal  virtues,  cultivated 
intellect,  a  high  order  of  eloquence,  uncommon  col- 


51^ 

loquial  power  could  charm  the  stern  executioner,  he 
would  not  have  dealt  the  deadly  blow.  If  public 
respect,  warm  personal  friendship,  the  tenderest, 
strongest  charities  of  domestic  life  could  prevail,  we 
would  not  be  here  in  sorrow  for  our  sore  bereave- 
ment. But  irrespective  of  all  that  is  honest  and  honor- 
able and  refined  and  of  good  report,  sooner  or  later, 
the  decree  is  executed — the  silver  chord  is  broken — 
the  body  dissolves  into  its  native  elements  ;  "  earth 
to  earth,  ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to  dust" — the  spirit  re- 
turns to  God  who  gave  it. 

That  the  gitted  mind  which  lately  dwelt  in  this 
lifeless  body,  was  accustomed  to  meditate  on  the  in- 
evitable event  which  has  now  occurred — that  our  la- 
mented brother  was  firmly  convinced  of  the  Divine 
origin  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  regarded  it  as 
furnishing  the  only  ground  for  a  reasonable  hope  of 
pardon  and  peace — he  never  hesitated  to  affirm. 
That  with  these  views,  when  a  few  years  since,  he 
thought  the  time  of  his  departure  at  hand, 
he  deliberate^  considered  that  he  had  made  ade- 
quate provision  for  its  solemn  issues,  we  do  know 
from  the  testimony  of  the  pastor  of  the  Church 
which  he  loved  to  frequent,  and  in  whose 
scriptural  and  impressive  ritual  he  so  reverently  join- 
ed. These  are  among  the  interesting  facts  to  which 
we  recur  for  solace  and  support  under  our  irrepara- 
ble loss,  as  they  indicate  that  the  great  work  for  Eter- 
nity was  not  neglected  through  life,  to  be  hurried 
over  amidst  the  haste  of  surprise  and  the  disabling 
infirmities  of  dissolution. 

Let,  then,  the  occasion  which  has  brought  us  to- 
gether speak  in  sepulchral  tones-  to  every  hearer,  -and 


53 

especially  to  those  who,  in  their  several  relations, 
have  been  associated  with  our  deceased  brother  in 
moulding  and  vitalizing  this  new  Republic,  in  the 
service  of  which  he  freely  spent  his  latest  energies. 
Bear  solemnly  in  mind  ycur  tremendous  responsibil- 
ity to  God  and  man,  for  yourselves,  and  for  millions 
whose  welfare  is  largely  entrusted  to  your  care.  Re- 
member that  life  is  short,  and  eternal  judgment  sure 
and  unerring.  Prepare  in  time  to  meet  your  God, 
who  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  Flee  for  shelter  to 
the  only  Refuge  for  sinners — the  cross  of  Christ — and 
find  salvation  there.  "Seek  that  wisdom  which 
cometh  down  from  above,  which  is  pure  and  peacea- 
ble, and  profitable  to  direct,"  that  by  your  endeavors 
"  all  things  may  be  so  ordered  and  settled  upon  the 
best  and  surest  foundations,  that  peace  and  happiness, 
truth  and  justice,  religion  and  piet}-,  'may  be  estab- 
lished among  us  for  all  generations."  Then,  when 
your  eye  has  lost  its  lustre,  and  your  heart  has  ceased 
to  beat,  and  sorrowing  survivors  bear  you  to  the  re- 
ceptacle of  the  dead,  a  grateful  and  prosperous  coun- 
try will  cherish  your  honored  memory,  and  genera- 
tions in  succession  rise  up  and  call  you  blessed. 

We  now  turn  to  the  last  sad  service  of  the  day — 
and  if.  as  we  stand  in  that  cemeter}''  and  commit  this 
body  to  the  ground,  memory  carries  us  back  to  a  sim- 
ilar scene,  some  few  years  since,  when  the  remains  of 
another  distinguished  son  of  Virginia  were  respect- 
fully brought  from  a  distant  State,  to  repose  in  their 
native  soil — brought  by  those  who  were  then  bound 
to  us  by  national  relationship,  and  cordially  welcomed 
as  brethren — whose  hands  helped  us  in  the  sacred 
ceremony,  and  whose  hearts  felt  as  at  the  interment 


64 

of  a  common  benefactor,  but  who  are  now  pressing 
upon  us  to  devastate  our  land  and  subjugate  our  peo- 
ple— let  us  try,  despite  of  the  grievous  wrong  we 
have  endured,  to  remember  Him,  who  one  day  was 
greeted  by  the  hosannas  of  the  multitude,  who,  the 
next  vociferated,  "  crucify  Ilim,  crucify  Him'* — and 
let  us  endeavor  with  His  spirit,  and  in  His  words  to 
pray,  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do." 

This  spirit  will  nerve  our  arms  to  noble  resistance 
of  all  invasion,  and  secure  us  His  favor,  who  is  the 
only  giver  of  all  victory.  "  The  Lord  of  Hosts  will 
be  with  us,"  and  "Grod,  ever  our  own  God,  will  give 
us  His  blessing." 


